FRUITPORT TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP) — Thousands of rats remain in and around a western Michigan home that housed a now-condemned animal rescue operation, according to a newspaper report.

Authorities and other rescue organizations across the state were trying to find ways to remove the rats overrunning the former Critter Cafe Rescue in Fruitport Township after its owner was told late last month to move out of the rented home.

Local police initially were called to the property after the rat infestation was reported.

“We were pretty shocked,” Muskegon County animal control officer Tiffany Peterson told the Muskegon Chronicle (http://bit.ly/1G9Uh0H ). “Even standing outside, they started coming out of the house, running through the grass, coming at our feet.”

Owner Christine Lea Bishop has been barred from the home. Rabbits, ducks and cats also were cared for at the animal rescue northwest of Grand Rapids. Many of the animals have been sent to other agencies for care.

Bishop has said the rat population started with a cage of pet rats left outside the building in winter.

She tried to feed them and get them birth control, Bishop said, but she had some trouble.

Rats breed about every three weeks, Peterson said.

“Nobody should be going there. It’s horrid,” she said of the house. “There are thousands there and they’re still breeding. It’s being handled and taken care of and should be cleaned up … in the next week.”